


Indigo Skies

by Auriana Valoria (AuriV1)



Series: The Lady Herald and Her Lion [14]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-19 23:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11323623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuriV1/pseuds/Auriana%20Valoria
Summary: Cullen takes care not to wake up the Inquisitor after she falls asleep on him.





	Indigo Skies

Cullen’s arm was going numb. That was certain. What was uncertain, however, was how exactly he was going to get out of the situation that caused it.

He and Verana had stayed awake for much of the night, filling out paperwork and reading letters and reports as they often did. It had become an almost daily ritual for them both when the Inquisitor was at Skyhold; after dinner, they would excuse themselves, wrap up whatever business remained for them to complete about the castle and then meet in his office to spend a few hours together. But, more often than not, a few hours would become half the night or more.

It was not surprising to either one of them, really. Even when they were both present in the fortress, they were starved for each other’s attention…especially each other’s _uninterrupted_ attention. And yet, neither of them in good conscience could neglect their duties, not when there was so much to be done and not when lives counted on their timely responses. Thus, they combined work and leisure in their own unique way and had found a strange sort of contentment in it.

But though Verana had stayed awake through the night many a time before, she had nodded off a bit early this time. She had been leaning her head against his shoulder as she often did while they worked, seated in a chair that was pulled up right next to his behind the desk. Then, about an hour earlier, he noticed her head leaning harder and harder into him, sliding ever so slightly down his arm. Her breathing deepened and slowed, the hand that held perhaps the fiftieth Orlesian letter slowly slackening its grip. Before she dropped it, he carefully plucked the letter out of her hand and set it beside the stack of parchment on the spot of desk in front of her. Then, he braced himself to keep her from sliding any further and, once he was satisfied she was stable against him, merely continued his work, careful not to move too suddenly so as not to wake her.

Now he was beginning to feel the effects of the weight of her body against the small area where her head made contact with his upper arm.

Carefully, he leaned forward and discarded the last of the reports from the previous day atop the rest where they lay atop the desk, stoppering his inkwell and setting down his quill. Her weight had followed him forth, and he eased back into place slowly, watching her intently as he moved. She had sunk deep into a restful slumber, and he was loathe to wake her from it. Such sleep came too rarely to them both.

His eyes swept over her placid face, and he saw that her black lashes were like feathers against her ivory cheeks. Her hair, which always reminded him of Leliana’s ravens, was a cape of ebon silk draped over his arm, and he had to fight the urge to run his fingers through it.

Instead, he slowly – so slowly – shifted so that her head fell further forward onto his body, resting just below his collarbone. Then, inch by inch, he maneuvered his stiff, half-numb arm behind her to encircle her waist and pull her nearer to him…hoping and praying all the while that he wouldn’t accidentally wake her.

At last, he managed to free himself and settle into a much more comfortable position for both of them. She hummed softly in her sleep, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Ever so gently, he pressed a feather-light kiss to the top of her head before glancing over his shoulder to gauge the time.

The skies were the same indigo hue that her eyes often took, speckled with glittering stars that were just beginning to fade with the coming dawn.


End file.
